Bruno Zappone is a research scientist at the Italian National Research Council. His main interests are in the surface properties, nanomechanics and nanotribology of liquid crystals, biopolymers and soft materials. He is currently studying periodic 1D and 2D defect domains that nucleate and self-assemble in thin smectic liquid crystal films due to incompatible boundary conditions [1]. Such domains contain uncommon arrangements of smectic layers, including curvature walls, virtual singularities and frustration, and can be used as host materials to organize nano-objects over a large length scale [2].

Contact:
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici (CNR-IPCF)
UOS Cosenza @Università della Calabria
website: http://www.ipcf.cnr.it/
email: follow website link to Personnel

References:
[1] B. Zappone, C. Meyer, L. Bruno and E. Lacaze, "Periodic lattices of frustrated focal conic defect domains in smectic liquid crystal films", Soft Matter (2012), in press
[2] D. Coursault , J. Grand, B. Zappone, H. Ayeb, G. Lévi, N. Félidj and E. Lacaze, "Linear self-assembly of nanoparticles within liquid crystal defect arrays", Advanced Materials (2012), in press